University professor indicted on two felony counts

James Cavalcoli, the University assistant professor of computational medicine and bioinformatics arrested in Florida earlier this month for attempting to have sex with a minor, entered a not guilty plea in federal court Friday, according to court records.

Cavalcoli was indicted Thursday on one felony count of persuading a minor to engage in sexual activity and one felony count of interstate travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

Mary Masson, a spokesperson for the University of Michigan Health System, said Cavalcoli remains on a leave of absence.

“Such matters are confidential between an employee and his employer,” she wrote in an e-mail last week.

Cavalcoli, who has been with the University for 13 years, was arrested by FBI agents on Aug. 7 after talking with an FBI agent posing as the father of a 14-year-old son. Cavalcoli reportedly thought he was meeting up with the father to have sex with the boy at the time of his arrest.